Interview #2
Interview #2 looks into the life of Ms. Pauline Smith Elliott. In this interview Pauline explains what life was like in the rural parts of Tallahatchie County during her childhood and how she managed to overcome obstacles that she faced during her life.
Q: What is your name?
A: Pauline Smith Elliott.
Q: Where were you born?
A: Tallahatchie County, Mississippi in August of 1948
Q: What were your parent’s names and occupation?
A: Lucille and Claude Smith. My mother was a housewife and worked in the houses of white people taking care of their laundry and my daddy was a sharecropper.
Q: Do you have any kids?
A: Yes. 4. Barbara Smith, Michelle Elliott, Eddie Elliott, and Hiram Elliott
Q: Do you have any siblings?
A: Yes. 4 brothers and I was the only girl.
Q: What was your life like growing up as a black girl in Tallahatchie County?
A: I went to school and I worked in the summer. My brothers and I worked in the fields but my mother wanted us to receive an education more than anything.
Q: Did you ever encounter racism?
A: No. Not in my younger years because my parents always kept me close to them. My brothers may have but I didn’t until I had grown up and left my mother and father home.
Q: What if anything do you remember your parents telling you about race?
A: Regardless of color or kind if they mistreated us we got to love our enemies to see Jesus. I grew up in a very religious home.
Q: What did your parents tell you or instill in you regarding being a woman, specifically a black woman?
A: Always know your place and stand up for self and to put God first.
Q: What was it like in school for you as a black female?
A: School was not integrated. We also got beatings in school if we did not turn in our work. Classes were held in the same place church services were because we could not go to school with the white children. The teachers then were strict on us because they really wanted us to learn and know the material.
Q: Where did you graduate from and did you attend college?
A: Yes. I graduated from Allen Carver High School and I did not attend college because my parents got sick.
Q: Did you get married? To Who? Were there any problems facing the preparations for the marriage?
A: I married Hiram Elliott Senior. There were no problems at all in getting ready to be married.
Q: Are you still married now?
A: No.
Q: After your marriage ended, what was your relationship towards men?
A: I dated other men, but my main focus was my children and taking care of my parents who were becoming ill as I got older. I’m still not married today and my children are all grown up and so I still have time to be in love, when God sends me a husband I’ll be ready, but I’m not rushing Him.
Q: Where did you work as an adult?
A: Pennico-Hosiery
Q: Did you experience racism on your job?
A: Yes. The black women on the job stuck together but some of them (black and white women) thought they were better even though we were all doing the same job and getting paid the same amount.
Q: What do you think about people dating outside their race?
A: Each to his own. If two people love each other then it is in their hands. No problem.
Q: During the 1960s the Voting Rights acts and the 19th Amendment was in full force and this gave women a chance to vote and have a voice in elections. Were you effected by this movement, and if so, how?
A: I registered to vote at the age of 18 in 1967 but because so many people were against black people voting within the county, some people packed up and left fearing for their life.
Q: Did you know or had you heard of Fannie Lou Hamer?
A: I never met her, but I did hear things about her. Sunflower County was not too far from here, but we stayed in a more rural area.
Q: Where you effected by the Jim Crow laws of the south?
A: I wasn’t bothered by it because I never wanted to eat their (white people) cooking any way. We had our own café and restaurants within the community so I never worried about sit-ins because we had our own place that cooked food that we liked.
Q: What is significant within black history or history that you remember in general?
A: Martin Luther King’s death- he was only 110 miles away from Tallahatchie county and people were running away because they were afraid that the terror would spread further south.
Q: How did the television and the media affect your life as a black woman?
A: We did not have a television, but we purchased several newspapers and magazines. One thing I can remember was the first time I saw Emmit Till’s face after he was beaten all night. It disturbed me and when his mother decided to leave his casket opened to show what racism had done to her child I was surprised. I was also shocked by the Selma attacks and the pictures that were in the papers and flyers. Although we stayed in a mostly black community, seeing these things going on outside the walls of Tallahatchie County struck fear into several people’s heart.
*** During this interview several things that were stated about Pauline’s town could be compared to the stereotypes in the book by Zora Neale Hurston’s “the Eatonville Anthology”. In this book she describes a town and gives it several different stigmas because it was a majority black town. Pauline ventures into some other endeavors and moved away from Tallahatchie to St. Louis and other parts of the country like Illinois and Wisconsin to visit her brothers and find work. In the end, Pauline decided to return home to Mississippi to be with her family and work to provide for them.
